Overview

• UN human rights official James Heenan warns that executions, forced labour and reports of starvation persist in North Korea a decade after the 2013 crimes-against-humanity probe.
• Heenan reports that the post-Covid period has brought even greater government surveillance and stricter limits on citizens’ freedoms.
• Satellite analysis shows Kim Jong Un’s regime fortifying the border with China and renovating a major prison camp near the frontier.
• Interviews with over 300 defectors expose deep despair inside North Korea, with some expressing hope that a war might force change.
• A fresh UN human rights report is expected later this year to reassess the isolated state’s ongoing abuses.